Chaos Theory
by Blade 42
Summary: Ch4 is up! Meg is still hurt and getting worse. Bardon is pressed into helping her while Meg comes to terms with the workings of her own mind
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Burst angel or any of the characters and tech in this anime. Or have any of the rights provided by the international copyright. I am merely barrowing the universe and characters to produce a story of own design. So please don't sue I have on money for you to win anyway. Any Characters in this story and not the anime are mine however.

AN: man its been a while sense I wrote anything for this site. Feels good to get back in the saddle. I don't have anything else to say at this point but thanks for taking the time to read this.

Chaos Theory

ratedM for language, violence and mild adult themes

Ch.1

History made flesh

_From down here we can make the whole wall collapse! _

_Yeah but boss how do we get back out?_

_goblin digging squad_

There was a knock at the door of the muti-story RV; Ami looked up from her computer. Who could that be? Kyohei wasn't due to show up to make dinner for a least another hour. She tapped a few buttons and pulled up the view from a camera mounted outside the door. There where several men in casual clothing, waiting outside. Behind them Ami could see the edge of a truck.

"Good they're early." Sei commented coming out of the trailer cockpit.

"Who's here?" Meg asked poking her head out of the still running shower.

"Some hired hands to help with our next mission." Sei answered "They're men." She adding meaning that Meg probably should hop back into the shower. Sei opened the door and a man in his late 40's took a marginal step inside and bowed slightly before offering the young woman his hand

"Good evening ma'am." He said with a distinct southern U.S. accent before saying it again in Japanese.

"Hello." Sei said in english just to showoff a little. The man smirked in a fatherly sort of way.

"Excuse me for being blunt ma'am but we really need to talk business, I want my boys squared away and this job made a tad bit clearer before we get all familiar like." The man said.

"Very well." Sei answered. "I can't be anymore specific on the mission because what you were told is what I was told. The less transmitted over commercial lines the better. You'll be briefed when we are. As to lodging, 1 or 2 have been arranged to stay here with us as asked. As for the rest we have several hotels marked over in the tourist district to lower any possible suspicions."

"That will work nicely ma'am." The man said. He looked off blankly behind Sei, collecting his thought. "My apologies ma'am but I didn't introduce myself. My name is Jimmie Dean Johnson." The older man said.

"my name is Sei, and over there is Ami." Sei pointed over at the youngster "I'd prefer to be on a first name basis Mr. Johnson." Sei said

"Fine by me, Ms. Sei."

"Just Sei." She interrupted

"Johnson isn't my real name." the man said smirking. "Well now that that's done we need to get squared away and my boys briefed before I run them off to bed. A couple of large trucks meeting in an abandoned lot is sure to draw some attention."

"True, Ami get Jo, and Meg get out here." She said. Ami disappeared and Meg appeared out of the bathroom, dressed in a baby blue sweat suit, her still damp hair clinging to her shoulders. The four girls followed Mr. Johnson outside into a small group of men. Easily obvious they were the solider type. Mr. Johnson went up to his oversized truck and opened the rear hatch, inside were 8 nearly man-sized cybots. The cybots looked like over stuffed men with neck less heads, the torsos where open showing a snug cockpit that filled the whole torso and went into the arms and legs as well.

"What are these?" Sei asked

"Obviously they're the Willy's IS-BW." Ami answered her with a slight sneer.

"I hate to burst your bubble young lady but these are the M5-BAAWM. The Bipedal Armored Assault Walker-Mechanized, or the M5-bam in short hand." A voice explained from the shadows. "We have 6 of them and a pair M5-AS. The scout version." The voice finished.

Ami looked mildly hurt. Sei saw Jo's head pick up in her peripheral vision. Something had caught Jo's attention. That was more than enough to worry Sei, Jo normally only got even minimally interested with a target to destroy or when one of them were in trouble.

"You seem to know a lot." Ami said sneering "Sounds a little nerdish to me."

"I really should know better that to taunt a child." The voice said, "but in retrospect it kinda sounds funny to hear that coming from one such as your self. Miss world renowned hacker. In some circles your famous Ami. You coded a basic cybot balancing correction and the first automated cybot friend or foe system. By the age of 9. are you really one to point fingers?" the voice asked. Ami growled quietly, her pride smarting. For some reason Jo started to chuckle. A unique and oddly frightening laugh the even sent chills up Meg's spine.

"you've got to be shitting me…." The voice said "I know that laugh and that's as happy as it gets." A faint echo of footfalls on steel was heard as a man walked out of the shadows of the 3.5 meter tall cybots. He was a taller man. Maybe about 2 meters tall, Or 6'2 and whatever the metric is as he would put it. He wasn't as build up as the other men that came with him, toned for his job, but in fact he looked kind of thin compared to some of the men in the little squad that had been dropped on the girls. A few looked like they could bench press a bus. His brown hair matched his eyes. He had a small scar just above his eye cutting his left eyebrow into two parts. Absolute dumb-foundedness was plastered all over his face. His first words were momentarily confuse as kind. That didn't take long to dispel

"No… no no no and just to be clear here Fuck no!" The man jabbed his hand aggressively in a generally thoughtless manner as he raged "and to think I was wondering why the files on the A-Fs were a little bit vague. Damn it why you of all people? Son of a bitch this is just perfect."

"good to see you again to Bardon." Jo answered, the reaction bothering Jo like water does a duck. Jo looked sideways at her friend's mostly Meg's confused "We have a history." Bardon snorted at her.

" History my scrawny white farmer-tanned ass. If we got a history then it's a big fucking history with an 800 page textbook."

"Will this be a problem Mr. Miciel? Mr. Johnson asked.

"No sir. I'm gone." Bardon strolled forward, leaving. "Mail the check I will see you all on the flip-side."

"Bard your under contract." Johnson pointed out

"Both our contracts." Sei added picking up on the possible problems this could mean latter on

"A under part B-4 I have the right to refuse to do any mission in exchange for a pay dock on anything that I deem dangerous beyond reason, and a relief of pay dock if the danger is found to be by a company controllable point." Bard said to Mr. Johnson, he then turned on Sei " and you, you can find yourself an 8 inch dick and fuck yourself sideways for all I care. " Bard said nearly shouting at her.

"I see you haven't changed." Jo said to him without turning to look at Bard. Bard cooled off instantly, he got a sort of depressed/annoyed look to him.

"Neither did you." He said. This exchange was followed by a silent calm between the pair. The other 3 girls were needless to say startled by this little encounter. Jo was acting human, in her own odd distant kind of way, not like a war-machine or an emotionless statue, even though Jo still showed nothing much more than her typical stony demeanor.

"It's..." Jo started

"Let's talk about this later." Bard cut her off

"you still blame me?"

"no shit." Bard said curse-like "and I've heard that line before from you Jo, don't start now."

"I got the job done." Jo stated

"I never debated that Jo. But damn it! Didn't you learn something? Stop being a gunman for once just… you stirred up a hornet's nest in there and came right on back. Shit Jo you don't jab a pig on the snout and show him the weak point in the fence! You lead 30 armed men right onto my front porch, 30 of them against me. Do you have any clue what 30 to 1 odds feel like when you're not some fucking war-god. I fought down to my last round and they still plowed me over." Brad paused, his half internal/external history seemed to grind against his very soul.

"I finished the job, and saved your ungrateful ass." Jo said in her monotone. Bard sighed at the earth sticking his hands in his pockets.

"you just don't get it do you. At what cost Jo? When is the price too much? 10 men, 100 men?" Bard looked up straight into Sei's eyes "is her life too much? Or maybe Her's" Bard nodded at Meg. "It's not the deaths Jo. Hell, who knows how many died because of my actions? The pulls of my trigger, how many low lives I've put down. What bothers me Jo, what truly gets under my skin. Is that they died partially because of your impatience, not most the reason but enough to that it can't be ignored, and you have too much pride to admit it. Even to yourself.

"I was not wrong." Jo countered defensively.

"You just made a mistake."

"What?" Jo asked partially taken back.

"I never said you were wrong, I said you made a mistake." Bard sighed again kicking uselessly at the dirt. He rolled his head back and looked at the sky, blue with a couple of clouds stretched across the entire sky by the whim of the winds.

"I forgive you Jo." Jo straightened up and turned, staring into Bard's back. "Did a long time ago." he looked over his shoulder at Jo "you have to forgive yourself Jo; I can't do it for you."

"Do you really mean that?" Jo said like challenge to duel.

"Yes I do, doesn't mean I forgot. And it doesn't mean you not guilty." Bardon answered. The two fell silent, their conversation over as easily and suddenly as it had began. Mr. Johnson used this opportunity to butt in.

"Lt. Bardon Miciel." He said firmly

"yes…sir." Bard answered stonily

"You are a mission vital personnel and you will stay to do your job and support your lance members." he said, reminding Bard of his job.

"Fuck." There was an unsaid sir that wasn't needed in this small of a unit.

"You will be working closely with these young ladies as that job requires."

"Oh fuck me."

"You will bunk with these ladies to do your job, protecting and maintaining the M5's."

"Oh fuck me in the ass sideways!" Bard exclaimed "I swear your purpose on this earth is to make our lives difficult." Bard said to Mr. Johnson

"And I'm damned good at it." He said in a mild mocking tone. Bard growled in general frustration

"You know my life was a hell of a lot simpler 10 minutes ago." The said to the gathering. He looked at the ladies he would be spending a good deal of time with for the foreseeable future. All of which he now had some bad connection to in one way or another.

"I'll stow my gear and transfer the goods sir." Bardon said

"Don't sound so down Lt. I'm sending the kid with you maybe he'll mellow you the fuck out." Mr. Johnson told Bard. Bard spun on his heels and headed inside he pause a few steps from the dark interior.

"Jo do you remember out little hell debate?"

"Vaguely." Jo answered

"Well I asked if you thought hell was endothermic, would condense in on it's self getting hotter and hotter till it explodes, or exothermic it would expand until all it's energy was gone and would freeze over. Well I hope Satan has a nice furry coat because I distinctly remember saying hell would freeze over long before I even consider working with you again." Bard glanced over his shoulder smiling weakly at Jo. He disappeared into the depths of the cybot bay. Jo turned and left, passing Sei and Meg, she wasn't crying but there was certainly emotion in her face.

A loud clang resounded off the metal of Jango's trailer as the M-5 clicked lightly against the side. The cybot swung slightly on the winch cable before being lowered into place and locked down. The M-5's were placed along the edge of the bay locked into an array on universal clamps and magnetic locks.

"That was fast." Sei commented watching the whole operation from beside Mr. Johnson.

"One more." He said. "Bard has yet to pack up." He turned at the sound of muti-ton footsteps. "Speak of the devil." The M-5 was a scout model, unlike the other M-5's that looked like they were fresh from the factory floor; this one had some scarring to it and paint that had seen harsher conditions that the factory floor. On the side facing Sei was some armor art, the mech version of nose art. On the side of the "head" was the words Bun-Bun in black paint. Above that, a picture of one very pissed off rabbit with an open switch blade knife in one paw. A caption in red paint read "you want a piece of me nerd-boy?" the cybot walked up the trailer ramp and moved to his lock-down spot, b backed up to the lip of the raised platform the clamps were on and with a little spotting from the lance stepped to the clamps and locked in without the winch. Bard hopped out closed the M-5 up and visually double checked the connection. Happy with it he gave the thumbs up and checked his tools on the way out.

"Why didn't he use the winch like the others?" Sei asked

"Because he is the only man on the team with enough experience with these machines to pull that maneuver off in any reasonable amount off time." Mr. Johnson answered honestly. " all these men have 1000's of hour in armored walkers they just recently became an M-5 unit they have about 150 hours in these machines, not enough experience to perform some of the finer maneuvers. Compounded by the fact we don't use this sort of transports I didn't want to risk them ending up on the bad side of the learning curve out here."

"soldiers with new toys huh?" Sei summarized.

"You're giving too little credit." Mr. Johnson said

"I'll give them credit when I see them work." Sei countered "I have taxi's waiting for your men."

"thank you Ma'am when will we be in contact again?" He asked

"I'll call you." Sei told him. "I thought you'd send someone with our trouble maker here.' Sei nodded at Bard crossing the empty lot towards the door.

"He'll belong soon; I need him at the moment. If that's all have a nice night Ma'am." With that the pair parted ways.

Bard climbed the stars to the living part of the trailer and knocked on the door being polite. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

"Your not wanted go away." Immediately greeted him.

"Yeah scram." Ami added. Bard moved fully in the door and stood face to face with on very angry Meg and a supportive Ami in the background. Bard whistled softly looked Meg up and down once and whistled again. She had changed into her typical outfit.

"I hate to say it princess but if the captain said to bunk with you that is what I will do not ifs ands or buts." Bardon pushed past Meg and walked into the room.

"Hello Jo." He said a tired fashion "And hello whoever the hell you are." Bard said to Kyohei.

"my name is Kyohei." He said

"Bardon." Bard told him.

"hey I'm not done with you yet!" Meg exclaimed

"I am" Bard told her, annoyed with her "Jo where do…"

"first door on the right." She told him

"thanks" he said throwing his stuff into the designated room. He started humming a tune before he got there. It had turned into a song when he got back.

_Did you lay down at night_

_think of tomorrow_

_Go out and buy you a gun_

_Did you turn off that violent old movie your watch'in_

_And turn on I love Lucy reruns _

_Did you go to a church hold hands with some strangers_

_Stand it line and give your own blood_

_Did you just stay home cling tight to your family_

_Thanked god you had somebody to love_

_I'm just singer of simple songs _

_I'm not a real political man_

_I watch CNN but I'm not sure tell the difference in Iraq and Iran _

_I know Jesus and I talk to God_

_And I remember this from when I was young_

_faith hope and love are some good things he gave us_

_but the greatest is love _

"Nice song." Kyohei said

"It's not mine." Bard said back, taking a seat opposite Jo at the table.

"why you arrogant…"

"Rude twerp." Meg and Ami started.

"relax." Jo commanded

"you said it." Bard added he hopped up out of his seat and rummaged in the fridge despite odd or angry looks from all present but Jo. He found something to suit his needs and handed sodas to Meg and Ami, placed one on the counter for Kyohei and returned with a soda for Jo to the table.

"Chill ladies have a soda." He took a sip of his "you're gonna give yourselves ulcers." He took a second sip watching Meg sputter angrily and Ami stare hotly.

"Nice to see you're warming up to our guest." Sei said entering into the little dispute.

"Sei I need to talk to you." Meg announced and stormed into the command cabin of the trailer with Sei not far behind.

"This can't end well." Bard said aloud

"What makes you say that?" Kyohei asked

"Because I don't think she's the sort of girl that takes the he's the staying and that's final conversation very well." Bard explained

"and why would that happen."

"Because this little field trip I'm on is a massive expenditure for Bai-lan. I mean multi-million dollar massive."

"Bai-lan's willing to spend that sort of cash on this? Someone must have something real important." Jo said

"Especially to spend 8 million." Bard said

"Where do you get that from?" Ami asked getting into the conversation and letting some of here anger go

"Do the math." Bard told her counting on his fingers "the commander gets a cut and a half, I get a solid cut and each of the boys get a half cut, plus the cost of transport machines themselves, the truck and a whole bunch of other things."

"umm how much is a cut?" Kyohei asked.

"good question." Jo commented

"About 400.000 US dollars 550.000 after hazard and travel pay." Bard said, he looked skyward counting on his fingers again. "give or take a few thousand."

Kyohei whistled

"that's a lot of money."

"you aren't kidding." Ami added

"couple more of these little field trips and I could retire from this…. Profession. Take a nice long vacation somewhere quiet." Bard mused leaning back in his seat. "Yup I'm guessing all our lives could use a little dull in them." He smirked at no one really. Just smirked.

"Damn it Sei!" Meg yelled bursting out of the command cabin door. "I can't take this any more!" she screamed at her. Her raw unfocused anger jumping over her like lightening bolts. She spun on her heels and stormed out of the trailer.

"Can she…"

"no" Bard didn't need to finish his sentence of "take care of herself?"

he held out a fist and threw out two fingers Jo kept a fist, rock beats scissors. Bard got out of his seat. Well in to "his" room and reappeared moments later wearing a leather coat. As he left through the door after Meg there was a quick flash of a ridiculously large revolver in a skeleton holster against the small of his back.

Bard scanned quickly and spotted the little neon clad girl strolling away in a speedy huff. Bard jogged to close enough to be considered a reasonable distance behind her, maybe 10 meters or so. Meg was too angry to take a close look at her surroundings and notice him, so he was fine for the moment. Bard reached into his coat pulling out a pair of sunglasses, even though dusk was coming on and the neon signs of various stores lighted the street. The glasses were based on a one way mirror, tinted one way but not the other, so it was like wearing normal glasses at night or in dark areas while still reducing glare. This particular pair had a few extras because of Bard's contacts. It had a low grade heat vision built into it and could take a shotgun blast at point blank range and still work. Pity about the rest of your face, but on the up side the company could guarantee if you survived your glasses would, they even offered a lifetime warranty on external damage a rarity in this day and age.

Bard kept an eye on Meg from a careful distance, he wasn't totally sure why Meg was that opposed to his presence but he had a good guess. Meg disappeared into a café style coffee house, and Bard purchased a paper to try and look uninterested and out on an errand. Meg came out of the café with a drink in hand she looked about, somehow she saw Bard, who disappeared behind his paper only to have it torn away, by a lady likened to that of an angry tiger.

"What are you doing here?" Meg growled at Bard.

"A favor for a friend." He answered. "Jo said to kept an eye on you." He half lied.

"Really?" Meg said with a mix of sarcasime and small amount of joy.

"I do have any reason to lie to you?" Bard asked her as he folded his paper and tucked it under his arm.

"Maybe." Bard sighed out of frustration.

"Listen," he began "apparently you don't like me and your attitude is seriously grating on my nerves. We need to sort this out now, cause I hate to break it to you princess I'm here for the duration whether either of us likes it or not."

"I don't have anything to say to you." Meg told him flatly.

"Fine I'll play your game, take a walk with me and listen; I won't make you say a damned word." Bard offered he turned around and started to move off.

"A walk where?" Meg questioned Bard

"I saw a park back a ways, greenery tends to mellow me out." Bard strolled along the city streets the noise of so many people piled on each other surrounded him. Meg walked with him. Bard reached the park and walked along a circle path around a small pond in the middle. This little patch of growing earth was still smack dab in the middle of Tokyo but somehow the trees and the grass made the place more peaceful, the air seemingly less harsh on the lungs.

"Excuse me for being blunt here, but I have no clue how else to do this. I'm not here to be a threat; I'm not here to be all lovey-dovey. I'm here to do my job. Me and Jo knew each other a long time ago that's all." Bard told her.

"What are you blabbering on about?" Meg said as if accused of something.

"Let me put it this way then. How much have you put into this relationship of yours and how much have you got back?" Meg stood there dumbfounded

"Take a seat." Bard told her pointing at a conveniently placed park bench. Meg sat down in the sort of defensive posture one makes when first meeting your in-laws, Bard perched himself on the back of bench. Resting his feet on the seat and balancing on the backrest. Like an owl bard took in the scenery before him his eyes never moved till he spoke to Meg.

"I don't pretend to understand how the universe works, I don't know why I was placed on this screwed up little rock and I'm damned sure I don't have a clue on how love works. But I've picked up enough to see the signs and read people, that's one thing I can do."

"Is it that obvious?" Meg asked confirming Bard's informal accusation.

"That you're in love or that you're a lesbian? Not very on either count. I was writing it off as a concerned friend until you flipped out back there in the trailer. The others seem to think that way." Meg grew abnormally quiet, thinking.

"If you knew Jo from before…. Could you….."

"I don't have a clue what Jo is thinking, she's a much harder book to read than anyone else I'm meet. And I was only with her about five or six months last time. I don't know what happened before then and I don't know what happened in the two years since then. To perfectly honest I don't care it's none of my business." Meg looked annoyed at the comment.

"Not much of a friend, are you." she said

"I never was her friend. Not even close. Comrades, yes. Back then I'd charge headlong into fire to save her rear end. Now, probably still would. I suppose we could have been called lovers but that's a bit of a stretch. We weren't friends. We never went out to the bars, no ballgames, out to lunch nothing. I have never had a casual conversation with her ever."

"Like?" Meg said her head still focused on the "lovers".

"How was your day? for example. It was always more like did you get shot this time nitwit? You have to drag a conversation out of her. I've never really shot the shit with her. Weird girl." Bard paused waiting for Meg to respond, it didn't come. Meg was adrift in her memories, scanning her own experiences with Jo. She had to admit she'd never really had that sort of conversation with her either. She had a few examples, but most of her casual conversations were Meg jabbering and Jo sticking to single syllable answers and head nods. This hadn't bothered Meg before and it didn't bother her now. It was just that somewhere in the back of her mind it made Meg feel better to have a 1 up on any "opposition" imaginary or otherwise.

"Meg." Bard interrupted Meg's mind wanderings "Meg. Me and Jo have a history. There was a relationship, and there still is a very weird sense of comradeship. Along with that goes the inside jokes and the random banter, a little as there may be. That is all. We're just old war buddies. I'm not here to whisk her off her feet or steal her away. When this job is done I am leaving…. If you can't accept that fact than stick your head in the sand till I leave I'll be out of your hair before you know it. Sound like a deal to you?" Bard asked hoping on a positive response.

"Sounds alright, I just have a question for you. Do you think the others know?" Meg asked worriedly

"My boys don't have a clue, and the commander has his suspicions but knowing him he'll let a sleeping dog lie it's not his place to ask or care really. As to your troop Sei seems like the only one with any possibility of the idea and if so she seems ok with it." Bard told her.

"Jo?"

"Like I said Jo's a hard book to read. Even if I did know that's for you to figure out." Meg had a mini pout over Bard's answer. "That's all you get out of me."

"You're hiding something." Meg accused leaning in inches from Bard's face staring him in the eyes.

"What's the point of hiding anything if I tell you? Not that I am." Bard leaned away from Meg, but she kept with him until Bard stopped for threat of falling off the bench.

"I'll take your word for it." Meg backed off returning to her original seat. Bard hopped off the back of the bench, stretching the lower part of his back. "I'm gonna head back, you coming?" Bard inquired. It was getting late and he had work to do come morning.

"I guess." Meg told him, getting to her feet herself still glaring Bard down like he was a spy for some evil faction. "I still say this smells fishy to me." Bard sighed running his hand though his hair.

"You know Meg sometimes things are just as they first appear." Just not when humans are involved Bard finished to himself. Meg seemed to accept the verbalized half of the saying with a grain of salt. But she did accept it.

"Don't except me to be all chummy." She told out right. Meg walked a few paces away she paused speaking over her shoulder. "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" Bard tiled his head sideways in curiosity.

"For telling me the straight truth."

"I could be lying."

"Doubt it. You don't seem the type to intentionally mess with people's emotions. Besides that thanks for not telling anyone either." Bard un-tilted his head, surprised Meg would thank him for this.

"Is love something to be ashamed of? Besides it's not really my place why should I care?" Meg just shrugged, she walked back home to the trailer, Bard waited a minute or so before following suit.

When Bard got back to the trailer the lights where out except for a light peeping out from under a door down the hall which he assumed was Meg. Bard felt his way into his temporary quarters. It was a storage area. A small room really. It looked to Bard like after the designers compacted things and arranged the walls to fit into RV form the designers found they had a good deal of dead space left over so they created a whatever room for the owners to use as they see fit. The girls seemed to have placed whatever material processions they had left over into the room. There was a mix of everything any sane person could think of. Computer parts, engine oil; there was a freezer and fridge on the far wall. A locked and fingerprint encoded lock box secured to a different wall. Either extra ammo or cash storage. There were a rack of spices and non-perishables. A collection of boxes in one corner had one of the girl's names written in sharpie on the side. You name it, it was in that room. Including a cot with pillow and blankets. Bard folded the cot up and set it in a corner out of the way. He rummaged in his bag moving aside his belongings cloths, mementos, laptop, and personal weapons in a locked case. He found the hammock he was looking for and set it up. There was a load being pole near the middle if the room. He secured one end to that and for the other Bard had a special magnet. He placed it on the wall and locked it in. He gingerly tested his setup, it held him. The magnet was a part of a magnetic clamp for the M5 that had been ripped out of it's track when a trailer was totaled during test trials. The clamp was designed and rated to hold a 20 ton LAV in place, overkill for the 4 ton M5 or the 3.25 ton M5-AS. As long as the magnet got a grip the clamp would hold Bard's weight like a finger held a fingernail.

Bard striped off his cloths, piling them in a corner until the earliest opportunity to clean them. He stood there in the dark, feeling the cooler air prick at his skin, until he heard the pitter patter of bare feet on tile. This wasn't too alarming in it's own right, but Bard didn't hear them pass his door. Bard turned, finding Jo standing at the door watching him like she was waiting for permission to enter. Bard smirked and bent over to grab one last item from his bag. He pulled out a plaid flannel shirt. Draping it over his shoulders and buttoning it shut.

"She's fine." Bard told Jo.

"I know we share a room." Jo answered. "What'd you two talk about? She came back in a weird mood."

"That's really none of your business." Bard said with a slight edge on his voice. He sat down on his hammock "and sense when would you care?" Jo stared at him coldly.

"Sense when do you?" Bard snorted at her.

"Are we really going to start this game again?" He asked. "Cause it got old a long time ago."

"You started it." Jo pointed out. Bard pulled the blankets Sei had provided for his use up and curled up in the hammock facing the wall.

"I think this has been a long day for everybody. Some sleep is probably in order." Jo nodded and left. Bard turned back over looking into the empty space were Jo had been. Bard couldn't help noticing he was down one flannel shirt.

AN: that's all folks. Please leave a review on your way out. A Hi my name is blank and I read you story is perfectly acceptable.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm feeling lazy, see Ch.1

AN: ok folks round 2, and special thanks to xSojix for leaving a review. With that as motivation I managed to turn this out in a week or2 once i sat downinstead of month. Other than that thanks for reading.

Chaos Theory

Rated M for language, violence and mild adult themes

Ch.2

Red in the Morning

_Ignorance is bliss, but often the death of you_

_Blade42_

Bard slowly opened his eyes, he vision slowly cleared to give him a better view of the grey featureless ceiling. He instantly agreed that the view of the inside of his eyelids was better and closed them again. Bard's other senses came online as he did. He heard bacon, and other sizzling nicites of the morning hours. The smells drifting into his nose were so strong he could taste them ten feet away. With a groan Bard rolled himself out of his hammock and onto the floor. He tugged on his shirt to get the bunches out of it and made sure the button on the front of his boxers was firmly fashioned. Bard walked into a scene he didn't think happened on this rig, a normal sit down meal; somehow Bard got the impression that was a rarity around here. Sei was already dressed along with Ami who looked like she had been up for sometime. Kyohei was cooking, as usual. Meg and Jo were both down the hall by their room's door. Meg was still in her night gown, really a blue t-shirt with an extra foot of material at the bottom and Jo was in one of Bard's plaid flannel shirts.

Bard sat down in a seat only have to stand up again to allow Meg to sit down. Jo sat across from them with Sei and Ami. Bard glanced over at Jo and shook his head. Bard's mother had given him one of those shirts for a Christmas many years ago. It wasn't really the style at the time but Bard made a point of wearing them for his mother. He started sleeping in them to that end. Somehow the habit stuck, mostly because they're warm and the good ones are soft to the skin. That's always a plus with New England winters. Jo was wearing one of his shirts as people chatted over breakfast. While Jo wasn't much of a talker she wasn't the subtle type either. Jo wearing Bard's shirt was a big ol' truce flag. "A let's pick up were we left off" kind of thing. The only problem was "were we left off" seriously conflicted with his speech last night to Meg. So he was praying Meg didn't read into the full meaning of the gesture and only thought of it as a sign of good friendship.

"Is something wrong with the food?" Kyohei asked "you haven't eaten yet." To be honest Bard hadn't even looked at the plate; it was bacon, scrambled eggs and some kind of fried fish.

"Nope nothing." Bard speared a hunk of fish and chowed down. "Just trying to think too hard after just waking up."

"Oh that's fine. I thought I messed up trying this American dish. I wasn't sure bacon and eggs would mix with fish."

"They don't my boy." Bard said flatly. He took a bite of fish, and then tried to stick a slice of bacon with his fork. He realized it was too crispy for the task so he ate it with his fingers. "But they do compliment well."

Bard cursed loudly as couple volts of electricity danced across the water molecules in his left hand trying to find ground. Bard rolled out from under the consol in the RV's command cabin rubbing his left hand. Sei was seated in seat opposite him trying very hard not to laugh at him. She was failing miserably and was giggling at him.

"Oh shut up." Bard growled. He whacked the consul with his non-shocked hand "fucker." Bard was trying to set up a command and control system in the RV. It was a self contained unit that was radio tactical map, holographic displays and all the other goodies one needs to command a unit in combat while not in combat themselves. While the system did have an internal battery the system's drain on them was too large for a battery to power effectively. The battery as is had about a 30 hour charge. The problem was it weighed about 40lbs and took 48 to 60 hours to fully charge depending on the recharge source. so the system tended to be deployed only where there was a secure energy source or enough extra troops to guard the battery truck. Which was why Bard was under the consul trying to link into the RV's electricity and getting a nasty shock in the process.

"I'll have to wait for the kid to show up then." Bard commented "that damn Spaniard can fix anything with a plug with his eyes closed."

"Is he your mechanic then?" Sei asked having finally stopped laughing at him.

"No he's a pilot; he just has a knack for electronics. From what I understand his father owns a high end computer company in Madrid, deals mostly in servers and other business things."

"Who is your mechanic then?" Sei asked raising an eyebrow.

"There isn't your people asked for a minimal team. Everybody is pulling a double shift on this one. The kid for example is a pilot, our electro expert and a surprisingly good cook, myself am the tactical commander, lance commander, one of 3 capable of maintenance on the M-5, a spare pilot and everyone and double as a medic in a pinch." Sei nodded her head in acknowledgement of the info. She did however wonder why Grandfather would cut corners like that; she made a note to ask him latter.

"A very diverse history. Do all the men in your company's employment have that sort of wide use of skills?"

"No." Bard answered settling into the seat across from Sei preparing for a conversation. "He just had them when the silver dragons went into Spain during the Spanish civil war."

"Seems like a bad way to employ, from the lands you fight in, even for a Mercenary company." Sei pointed out.

"Maybe, but its not like we're picking up random bums. Its people that proved that could and would fight under orders in questionable situations of correctness. Hell that's how I came to be with the Silvers. I was in the militia for the California revolt, fought in the first and second battle of San Francisco."

"I heard those were hard battles."

"Hard? More like suicidal. There was 65 percent turn over rate for units in those battles; we wouldn't have survived if Jo and I hadn't tagged a long with the dragons in the area."

"You're Merc Company?" Sei asked.

"Ya, there used to be a base of operations in southern CA, they were protecting their assets and helping their primary employer. The US government is 60-70 percent of our contracts. For those odd jobs they can't be attached to, officially at least. How the world works I guess. A government protects it's people by any means necessary." Bard shrugged in a "who knows", Sort of expression.

"I didn't know you worked for the Silver Dragons." Sei stated

"Never came up." Bard answered. The silver dragons were the only branch of Bai-lan that separated with the main body under peaceful terms. Peaceful in the fact that in 1860 the Pacific Ocean was a large deterrent to retaliation. When the cold war flared up in the 50's the two organizations were able to work together because of 2 major factors, one the Silver dragons did a large hunk of their work with the OSS in Europe while Bai-lan stayed completely independent from the Japanese government. The two organizations never met in combat over the separation or in open war reducing any possible bad blood between the two. Second the two organizations had the same enemy the communistic Russians. If the Russians got a hold in Japan it was a lose-lose situation for everyone. Because of this an invasion of Japan didn't happen, and the 2nd eastern fleet got a nuke dropped on it in the best kept secret of the 20th century and the only tactical use of nuclear arms to date. In the passing years sense then the Americanized Bai-lan offspring has done as near a 180 from it's predecessor as anybody could in this business. While Bai-lan sank deeper in the shadows of society, the Silver Dragons has become a public company. Not public in the sense that the US people know about them, although the locals certainly aren't stupid. The US Gov and Canada sure as hell know about the armed services they could provide.

Bard just shrugged

"Didn't seem to important." He Sei said nothing back, a tense silence settled in the air.

"Not to change subjects, but…." Sei spoke shattering the quiet.

"I don't know what Jo is thinking any better than you people do." Bard lied, he had a better guess than most people in the trailer, he wasn't lying when he said he didn't know what Jo thought. A hard book to read isn't impossible. Compared to the others stumbling around in the dark of Jo's mindset with a flashlight, Bard had a set of headlights. But in the dead of night and the grand view of the world that still wasn't much.

"Why do you care?" Bard asked, he rubbed his left hand, it still tingled.

"Because I don't understand how she thinks." Sei said

"Do you trust her?"

"Yes."

"With your life?"

Yes."

"Then don't worry about it." Bard crossed his arms and settled back into his chair. "That's all anyone really needs to know about somebody."

Bard watched from the comfort of the stair well as Francisco's (AKA the kid) feet moved about in contentment as he patched the C&C system into the trailer's power supply. That kid breathed electronics. Bard shifted his back against the wall he leaned on working out the kinks.

"Stiff." Jo said in a not really question tone.

"Very." Bard said still stretching. "Your friends are a very unique bunch."

"I knew that." Jo said sitting down a step or so below him.

"They're curious about you. They don't know much about you."

"I know that too, Meg isn't."

"Meg isn't interested in your past." Bard said, looking at Jo with a neutral/ bored expression.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Jo growled at Bard.

"Not my place to say, that's between you and her." Jo's aggression bothered Bard about as much as cold does a penguin. Jo shrugged

"Whatever."

"All set Ese." Fran said from under the consul, "I even patched her into the network for you."

"Thanks mi hermano. You are a god with all things that go sparkly and humm with energy from the bad black clouds."

"If you were anybody else I'd call you a jackass." Fran told Bard bluntly.

"I try." Bard crowed with a faked smugness. "Hey Jo do me a favor and gather the chicas. I think the Boss may have our mission figured out by now." Bard was asked with staring intently at the screen start up and run it's preoperational checks.

The image of the Mr. Johnson hovered in the primary screen on the C&C unit, like some skin toned statue. Bard watched for Sei to return to the command cabin.

"Come on run the vid already." Ami complained impatiently, I wanta know what's going on."

"That's a live feed Ami." Bard answered her stonily. As he said so Mr. Johnson reached off screen and picked up something.

"Ready?" he asked

"Yes." Sei said positioning herself in view of the screen.

"Alright ladies and grunts this is the skinny. A terrorist cell is threatening to do some major damage if it's demands aren't meet."

"Again?" Fran asked tiredly. "This has to be the third one this year."

"quiet Frano, calling this a terrorist cell is like calling the sun a ball of gas, while that's what it is there is little more to it. The group wants a coup, a new government. One that's more in tune to the people's needs."

"Weird why to put it." Bard said

"It's a direct quote from the cell's website. They're posing as a political party."

"So why give a damn?" Jo asked

"Because they have this." A image of a machine appeared on the side screen. It was looked like it was based on a self-propelled artillery carriage. Except that it was about 200 ft long and 75-90 ft wide if the scales on the side of the screen were right. The weapon's barrel stuck out a little bit over the end of the transport chassis. On the end of it was a strange curved metal aperture, it seemed to cover the end of the barrel but not totally, there was a hole in the center for what ever the thing launched. Bard stared at the image dumbfounded.

Jo said in aw. "I thought that was destroyed.

"It was, I ran with the screening force. Wedged ourselves between the gun and a mechanized company while the assault team went in. they disabled the Co2 cooling system and started firing into the ocean, it overheated and exploded rather spectacularly. Anyone within a mile was blinded. I was looking the opposite way and had my eyes screwed shut and I still was seeing spots for 3 days."

"When was that?" Jo asked, seemingly hurt about having missed the party.

"About 10 hours after the bombardment on Grover Street, you were still out."

"Will somebody please explain to me what the hell that is!" Meg bellowed. Bard looked back at the image of Mr. Johnson

"If I may sir, I know this weapon in detail."

"Same here." Jo added, still watching the image of the Chaos gun rotate on the screen

"The Chaos gun is the first practical application of a magnetically launched projectile system, better known as a rail gun. There isn't any special meaning to the name it was named after the man who's theories made the weapon possible, Dr. Benjamen Chaos."

"And he is…" Sei started to ask.

"Dead." Jo finished

"2010, at the ripe old age of 77." Bard sighed and continued. "The gun accelerates a 75 lbs solid Iridium shell at 2/10th the speed of light. When that thing impacts it's like Hiroshima right under ass, just BOOM!" Bard made an explosive gesture with his hands.

"That weapon will destroy companies cy-bots, anything it touches."

"I've seen that fucker annihilate entire buildings." Bard added "that damned round hits it and the skyscraper evaporates, a 70 story building, WHAM! Story 15 to 50 is gone. Nothing left but air and melted I-beams. What's left of it just folds over like a wet noodle. That cannon is the reason there was a 60 percent turnover rate in the San Francisco battles, it's also the reason there isn't a San Francisco"

"There isn't? I studied it in school" Ami asked.

"You studied it's history, there is nothing left, check any modern map it's not there. The battle was 2-3 years ago. Nobody has even made the attempt to rebuild. Bodies still lie in the streets."

"That's terrible!" Meg exclaimed.

"It happens." Jo preached emotionlessly.

"That's beyond the point." Mr. Johnson cut in "we know they're hiding the thing in Onaka the lawless region, prefect place for them to hide. The area is like the in-city forbidden zones. The locals can't control the people so went fuck in and simply contained them. We'll be start probing the area today or tomorrow depends on the satellites and their orbits. In the mean time we'll start a desk recon, use our friend's connections and the local net to pull info, history, crime rates commerce and get your grubby hands on every area map you can, power, roadway, Topo, any and everything. Questions?"

"Yes sir." Bard answered cynically "why the hell did someone build a second Chaos gun! What the fuck sir! I thought the UN and every 1st world country on the planet banned the weapon! Why would the Gov take the chance of that getting out never mind the fact that somebody would thing of using it after seeing the wreak in made of S.F!"

"The military didn't build this one." Mr. Johnson seemed to have this explanation on a cue card somewhere. "It was built by NASA to experiment with as a satellite launch platform. The final product is immobile with a 450ft barrel. This was a test bed about half the firepower and a 1/3 of the range."

"I could still put a round over Japan the long way." Bard sneered

"True, but on the up side Iridium is hard to get outside a governmental level. So these people are shooting something else, melted down scrape metal probably useless cars are a likely source." There was a loud thunk as Bard whacked his head on the consol

"Why me?" he groaned "what did I ever do to deserve facing that monster twice?"

"Get a grip of yourself." Sei complained "we have a job to do."

"And I have every intention to do that job to my dying breath, but in all honesty if I had a good hard grip on reality I would have shot myself ten minutes ago." Bard shot back never taking his head of the consol. "Life just got very suckie." Jo patted Bard on the back of the head

"We survived last time." She then the room to do something, she knew what the mission was now she'd get the finer details later from either Sei or Bard. Ami was too tech oriented to has any useful info and Meg, despite how good of a "friend" (quotations for a reason) she was, she was no fighter. Wouldn't know what info to look for and pass on.

As Jo left the remaining 3 girls and the expression on their faces as if Meg and stormed naked and announced she was pregnant, smoking the good stuff with plenty to share and was engaged to marry Saturday, all in one breath. Bard simply stood up and moved out of the command cabin.

"We're all gonna die." He foreshadowed.

AN: 1 for the record the story is not named after the Chaos gun.

2 Please leave a review on your way out, I know your reading I have the hit counter to prove it! But seriously it's endlessly annoying to get a 70+ hit counter and only 1 review. Thank you

Speaking of which thanks again xSojix


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: still feeling lazy, see chapter 1

AN: my bad this Chap took a lot longer than expected. (I blame writer's block and good video games) and to anyone who's read my other chaps I'm sorry for the grammar issues. I did not proof read well I have no excuse. I think I got most of them in this one.

Chaos Theory

**Rated M for violence, mild adult themes and language (my charters say fuck a lot)**

**CH.3**

**God Complex?**

_Wow you're an asshole. Welcome to the club! There's cookies and punch in back._

_Blade42 in response to a comment on closed his eyes, allowing them to rehydrate after looking at a laptop screen for too long. The miniaturized computer was one he had to barrow from Ami because Bard wasn't willing to take the chance of some wiseass, or a counter intelligence group back hacking the C&C system. Bard refocused on the screen, at the moment he had several maps Ami had liberated from public companies and an open link to a library server. _

"Look at this." Jo said point to a hard copy topographical map.

"What?" Bard said getting out of his seat and kneeled to get a better view. Fran leaned in staying in his chair; Sei glanced over her shoulder at them from the driver's seat. Last Meg leaned unnecessarily close to Jo, with 5 people in the command cabin it was a little tight, but Bard didn't want to push his luck by asking Meg to leave after Jo's show of affection at the briefing.

"Here." Jo pointed at the map

"So?' Bard said "there's nothing there. No major land masses, hills, nothing. Just that river. It gets shallow so they could ford there but why bother there is a bridge maybe 25- 30 miles south."

"RAPT controls that bridge." Fran said, "Rigged with sensors and a twice daily patrol. That's the only reason I see." Bard nodded his head in agreeance

"There's a mild hill range about 45 miles away. 2 maybe 3 days travel for something that big over unrefined ground, possible hiding spot but unlikely. There's no way to hide to from aerial surveillance. If you place it close to your base of operations it'll be spoted when someone has any reason to search the area and everything goes down the shitter. There's no where close to that area to safely hide something the size of the Chaos gun."

"There is a city here," Jo pointed at a level area by the sea, almost in the center of the mountain range. "Onika."

"The ghost city!" Meg exclaimed worriedly "that place is haunted." Bard and Fran snorted at the notion. Jo kept a passive expression.

"No it's not." Jo protested calmly.

"The place was hit hard by the quake of 2025." Sei said, not looking away from the road. "After that the city never recovered. People were afeard after they discovered a new fault line was forming underneath it. The city was left to die, decaying like some rotting corpse."

"Sounds like you had family there." Fran said

"My parents."

" I see. I'm sorry." Fran said out of social expectance.

"Ok you win we'll go." Bard partially complained, "As soon as we stop moving."

"We pass it on the way." Jo said.

"Umm... where are we going anyway?" Meg piped up.

"I'd be hard to mount a search from Tokyo, Leo has a place we can us as a base of operations. He did Jango's field trials there. It'll be big enough." Sei explained.

"Nice to know you people know everything. What number am I thinking of." Bard said

"23" Fran guessed

"Damn."

"Will you stop whining?" Meg whined at him.

"No." Bard snapped "as a solder for higher I have the god given fucking right to bitch and moan until my superior officer threats to shoot me and if I may point out I do have a good reason to bitch and moan, because we are chasing down one of the most destructive things to this date created by man. A weapon second only to the atomic bomb in human deaths per shot. A weapon our enemies will have no issue using against anybody that considers standing in their way of whatever they wish to do, which for the record most certainly includes us. So excuse me for being a little miffed about the whole situation."

"You have such a way with words." Fran said in a smug sort of voice.

"Fran shut the pie hole before I shove this map where the sun don't shine." Bard threatened.

"If this heart warming bubby-buddy moment is done with, we'll be there in about 20 minutes." Jo said. Fran and Bard rock paper, scissored. Bard lost. He got up and left to ready himself.

Bard placed the case holding his personal weapons on the table and unlocked it. He pulled out his .45 colt setting it on table top. He placed his hand on the cloth holding his disassembled AK-27 assault rifle, but decided against bringing it. Bard relocked the case and replaced it in his room.

"You look ready." Jo said.

"Just a minute." Bard told her. He rapped on his chest listening for the solid thud of his knuckles coming in contact with the ceramic plate of his bullet proof vest. The vest was a part of the whole out fit he wore. The was all Kevlar, the vest used steel and ceramics to keep high velocity rounds from punching into his vital organs, the pants and shirt wore a worn mix of cotton, Kevlar, polyester and about 3 more items only there creators could pronounce the names of. All 3 parts were coated in a sun reactive green dye to add in camouflage. Basically the amount of sun light the dye received dictated how bright or dark the shade of green was. So as long as there was color in the plants Bard would blend in as well as a human could.

Bard strapped the pistol holster on. The holster was slung low, resting on his mid-thigh were his hands naturally fell when walking. Bard looked up in time to see Meg waltz in, dress in her neon yellow dress and cowboy hat.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Yes." Bard and Meg argued back and forth.

"You have got to be kidding me." Bard asked Jo

"I trust her." Was her response. Bard just growled.

"I should be calling you 6 different types of stupid but, I know I'm not going to win this fight so let's just skip it and get to reality here. Meg change. I'm not sure if you know what we're doing so I'm going to say this as bluntly as I can. We are doing a recon of a possible trail of transport and supply. Now I'm sure you have a firm grasp of what is needed for urban tracking and scouting. But this as natural and forestry as Japan gets from what I'm told and for the record neon yellow does not blend with any sort of green never mind the natural forestry shades. Now doing what we're doing getting seen first tends to get you shot at. Now believe me having a bullet rip up your insides and most likely kill you tends to ruin your whole day. Now it is your choice to follow my advice or not because you can come, but let me warn you. If you want to press the point of going out on recon in that getup I will blow out both you knee caps and the issue will be settled that way, because I like my sense of self existence and would like to keep as is."

"You are a bastard." Meg said

"And I'm still alive. Now change." Bard ordered. Meg huffed, and went to change.

"This from the man who cried like a baby when Ray died." Fran commented

"Oh shut the hell up." Bard snapped. He slid a clip into the .45 and jacked a round into the chamber. "Some days it's not worth giving a damn."

"At least you don't pretend not to." Fran said. "People like that are hard to get along with."

"Speaking of which." Bard looked at Jo.

"What's your problem?" she asked him.

"Didn't say a word."

"Nothing" Bard and Fran said at the same time. Bard moved to the stairwell by the door. Positioning him self beside the door. Meg reappeared, in a much more appropriate green shirt and kaki shorts.

"It's all I got." She explained

"It'll do." Jo told her. Bard rolled his eyes.

"I still think this is a bad idea."

"And I think you're a coward." Jo shot back

"And I know for a fact you're suicidal so if you're done stating the obvious we're only a minute out."

"Should I pray for your safe return or just prepare for the insurance money?" Fran asked

"Thanks." Meg said sarcastically

Bard opened the door to the open air. The ground rushed by as the stairs extended.

"Aren't we stopping?" Meg exclaimed

"It's called tuck and roll sweetheart." Bard yelled over the wind and run down the stairs, reached the end and leaped to clear the trailer's rear wheels. Bard did exactly as he said; he tucked and rolled along the ground until his body ran out of momentum. Jo landed beside him in a cloud of road dust. Her limbs wrapped around Meg, after having more or less throw her out the door after Bard. Bard stood up and dusted himself off.

"That was fun." Jo said

"Are you crazy!" Meg bellowed back at her,

"Keep your voice down." Jo commanded. Bard leaned over.

"Yes she is legally insane, and keep your fucking voice down." He said "remember our conversation on how getting seen first will get you shot? Being loud doesn't help." Jo uncurled from Meg and stood up,

"Sitting on our asses won't get things done."

"I know I know." Bard said "it was west right?" Jo nodded a correct at him.

Pickers bite lightly into Bard's skin but he didn't notice, he had learned to tune out that sort of mild discomfort in much darker settings than this. The sun was out and the sky was blue, a light breeze tickled the grass in a uniform fashion it was a very pleasant day. Bard peer thought his binoculars at a smoky landscape beyond the base of the hill. On the far side of the slope out of sight Jo and Meg waited. They were in theory watching his backside; however he was only counting on Jo to do that. He was the one on the crest of the hill because he wasn't in a mood to baby sit. Bard whistled and Jo flew up the hill side not making a sound, Meg to his surprise followed quickly, the noise she made was very below the need and was drowned out by the slight breeze at a 4 or 5 paces. Maybe he wasn't giving her enough credit.

"What?"

"There's a shanty town in the bend of the river." Bard whispered to the pair of woman. There probably wasn't a soul around for kilometers, but there was no point in taking the chance. Bard handed Jo the binoculars "looks likes something happened the area is smoky and a couple of building aren't standing anymore, but then again it looks like I could knock those things over by leaning on them."

"Looks deserted." Jo said "that's unusual."

"Doesn't look to promising." Bard said

"For what?" Meg asked.

"Survivors." Jo explained.

"Best case scenario is massive fire and the people decided to cut their losses." Bard thought-spoke

"Genocide is far more likely." Jo said bluntly.

Meg carefully picked her way across the scattered remains of a poorly built wooden shack, its walls splintered by an explosive. The smoke hung thick enough in the air to leave a taste in one's mouth. The ground was littered with the wastes of battle, round casings, dropped magazines, blast marks, human and cybot tracks, dried blood spots. But no bodies or any reusable equipment for that matter. Whoever won, won decisively enough to clean up. Bard and Jo moved through the zone of destruction with an eerie sense of familiarity. Securing corners and windows with ease of practice. Meg followed watching were told to.

"No one's here." Meg said, scanning the deserted landscape.

"I have to agree with you on this one." Bard conceded. He holstered his .45. "They wanted these people gone, the area clean. Didn't want any survivors coming back."

"There aren't many survivors if any." Jo said. She pointed at a large patch of freshly turned earth just beyond the shatty's edge. "We better be quick, who did this will be back to burn the evidence." Bard knelt down examining the bullet casing on the ground, picking them up and carefully searching each one. He moved slowly doubled over, searching the liter. Jo peeked her head in to a shanty; Meg took a cue from this searching a "housing" as well. However she made the mistake of striding into the door, not peeking.

While this happened all too fast for anyone to understand why they survived, they indeed did. Meg tripped of a variation of a bouncing Betty land mine. Left behind to insure no one poking around would live to report what they found. The land mine did exactly what it was designed to do. The mine's primary charge launched a sonic propelled directional ordinance pod into the air. It punched through the tin roof of the shanty and detonated. The shaped directional ordinance pod is very similar to the US Claymore mine, a curved casing with a pound of C4 for propellant and several hundred ball bearings meant to kill in a 120 degree cone instead of a circle. A timed fuse in the pod ignited an explosive chemical call hydroplinate. When ignited the chemical doesn't explode right away, for a fraction of a second in implodes inward on itself and then releases its force outward. The energy this causes is massive, 50 pounds of this stuff and a 30 ft steel pipe will launch an 8oz steel ball into low orbit. The Japan Space Exploratory Commission has done it. The energy release is designed in this mine that the explosive doesn't really launch the ball bearings inside, the sound wave and air pressure change from the small detonation does. Along with all this nastyness the mine harnesses one more side affect to its advantage. Any explosive converts most of its potential energy into heat and light. It's a nature of explosives. The heat is held around the pod just long enough to melt a few of the ball bearings into molten globs of burning death and coat the outside of most of the rest in the super heated metal.

The mine launched itself through the roof, taking it with it for several feet. When the tin roof fell back to earth it caved in on its center, this is what saved the trio. Call it the grace of God, destiny, or just dumb luck, what ever suits your sense of logic best, that this shanty was capped with a piece of metal strong enough to withstand the impact of the mine's projectiles but flimsy enough to bend. The metallic roof deflected the majority of the death inflictors away from Jo, Meg and Bard preventing harm. Unfortunately as anyone versed in the English language will know, majority does not mean all.

Bard groaned and resisted the urge to pick at the bandage on his face. He was frustrated as hell, because for all his experience on the wrong end of a barrel and other means of killing somebody, along with the after affects he didn't know what was going on. He took an educated guess from the noise that either Meg or Jo was getting patched back together like some pathetic voodoo doll. Beyond that Bard didn't have a clue, because Bard couldn't see. The bouncing betty mine released light and heat normally compare to that of the sun in scientific circles/terms. Being less than 5 meters from the explosion gives people sunburns, in uncomfortable places occasionally. Bard like when the Chaos gun exploded back in San Francisco had been looking in a bad direction. The whites and retinas of his eyeballs had been more-or-less sunburned, blinding him for the next several days. In the long run it wasn't any more dangerous to him than a regular sunburn would be, that said this sort of injury increased the odds of becoming color blind as one aged about 3 fold. However to honest, after the Chaos gun injury he was kind of counting days till then anyway. Besides this whole bad day would be even more so if not for the drugs in his body. There are times when people just have to could the blessing they have. Thank god for anti-clogulant-b12, the nuke of all painkillers. Bard felt the chair beside his creak.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"What? a fella can't side down?" Fran said.

"Just don't sneak up on me." Bard said submissively. "Do I even want to know?"

"Meg will live. She was in trouble but it was mostly superficial flesh wounds. Bleeders. She'll be back to her bright and cheery self in a couple days." Fran looked sideways at Bard despite the fact he couldn't see the sneerful action "do I even have to say how lucky you three Bastards are?"

"No you don't you prideful like fucker." Bard bitched "I take it Jo is fine then?"

"I sprained my wrist and my head feels like someone took a hammer to it." Jo explained in a lecturative tone

"I really don't doubt you know what that feels like." Fran said

"Give me a hand will ya? The heat in here is getting to me." Bard said placing a hand blindly into the air. Jo took it, leading him out the door.

"Somehow, I told you so just doesn't cut it." Jo said nothing. The lower temperature of the night air created a defined line between in and outside. Bard felt the excessive heat drawn out of his body, it felt wonderful. Jo let him go within a hand span away from the outer wall. He placed a palm against it, seeking evidence that he wasn't suspended in some lightless, timeless void between existences.

"Well this is a great end to a generally suckie day." Jo continued to say nothing.

"She can normally handle herself, with me around." Jo said, more introspective than anything.

"Warfare has steep learning curve, sooner or later you wind up on the bad end of it." Bard said in a feeble attempt to logicalize the whole situation."

"I should have protected her."

"You're only human, you can't protect everyone all the time."

"I should have,"

"Oh Jez, your not God Jo, you've got limits like the rest of us. You might be an angel of death but that's it." Jo snorted

"What?"

"You and Meg are the only two people that have never been angry at me." She stated

"What the hell? That came out of left field. And for the record angry is a pretty good description of how I felt when you got my brother shot!" Bard nearly yelled at Jo

"You where furious, pissed, not angry." Bard thought long and hard on that one.

"The difference being…."

"Furious passes. Anger don't" Jo explained.

"So I don't hold grudges well, big deal."

"It's bigger then you think." Jo paused "the only person Meg could be angry at is herself. She shouldn't."

" Whoa whoa whoa…" Bard said picking her words apart to find the real meaning. "Back up here, you're feeling guilty about not feeling guilty? At the end of the day, you're still feeling guilty." Jo stared straight ahead, Bard only heard silence.

"Oh don't give me that I'm not like other people bullshit again. Tell me you don't feel fear, or feel guilt directly. But don't tell me you have no soul, or look at the stars at night and not wonder what the hell is out there. I've seen you cry and I've seen you wonder. You may not be normal but you're not that different."

"It's cloudy tonight. No stars." Jo said

"So I'm not god either."

Bard curled up under the blanket in his hammock, to protect against the chill. It really wasn't that cold a night but his back and face were sun burnt from the mine and those burns could make the air feel a bit chilly with nothing around to distract you. Meg was in his team's trailer, it had a med area set up to ICU 1 person, saying she'll live doesn't mean she's out of the woods yet. Bard mentally cursed at the world in frustration. He had managed to reach that mildly fuzzy drowsy area where sleep is possible if you don't think too much, and he had just had a very full day to think about. Bard thought about the recon, drifting into the shanty town. He said/thought a pray in thanks. He wasn't religious in the fact he went to church every Sunday. But he did make it a point to say thanks whenever all logic dictated he shouldn't have what he has, shouldn't still have all his limbs, or shouldn't still be breathing. At the moment all 3 applied.

The door slid open slowly and quietly. Bard closed his eyes despite the bandage a, habit from childhood. Jo snuck over to the side of the hammock. Bard was left in the dark, literally. He had no idea what was going on till Jo pulled up the blanket and got in the hammock. She thought Bard was asleep, but he draped an arm over her middle and thought the ach her neck created against the hammock fabric, for comfort mostly. Funny how people fall into old habits when stressed.

" I'm really hoping it's you Jo cause I told that hooker to go home an hour ago. I'm not paying overtime." Bard whispered

"funny." Was the response.

" You never where much of a conversationalist, Meg still under?" he asked

"Yes, your people are keeping her sedated till morning, something about letting her wounds settle." Jo said.

" You really should talk to her."

"Why."

"Because she loves you." Bard paused, letting that sink in.

"I guess I do too." Jo answered.

"But not in that way." Bard summarized.

"What?"

" Do you love her like you love me?" Bard asked

"Yes."

"Then not in that way." Bard summarized again. " I may not know you perfectly Jo, but I know you well enough to know that. We've been through hell together, and I'm not sure what you went through with Meg but it proved for both of us to you that we're useful, reliable, and loyal, all to varying degrees. You're talking about comradeship, and just generally giving a damn. And yes that is a very strong form of love, what that isn't what she feels. She's……." Bard stopped lost for words. He realized in trying to say so he had no words to try and explain to Jo how he thought Meg felt. Jo wasn't speaking "just… talk to her for my sake. Please."

"Fine, should I take that as a sign to leave?" Jo questioned.

"No, I like having you here. It's comforting and familiar. To be honest I was feeling exposed before you showed up." Bard placed his head down, but Jo moved hers back forcing Bard to drape his chin over her neck and lay his head against hers. His skull cushioned but Jo's platinum hair. In war there was a reason to get close like this, 1 to share body heat. Should there be need, 2 to make as small a target as possible should they be shelled in the night. However that need for either of those things tonight was so small it would almost be fair to call it impossible.

AN: thank you for reading, and please leave a review. Please if you enjoy this story in any way it's in your best interest to leave one. The more reviews there are the more motivation I have to sit and write. Without them it's an I'll finish when I finish sort of deal.

Thanks for leaving a review.

CH2 Akasha the goddess

CH1 xsojix


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Burst angel and any of the original characters are the property of I believe Funimation not mine. I simply barrowed them to tell this story. Bardon Fran and any other characters no mentioned are however my creations (Don't touch! Mine! Get away!)

AN: Thank you to everyone who left a review on my last chap. I'm just too short on time to list them right now. And as always any spelling/grammar issues I may have and in all likelihood missed.

Chaos Theory

Ch.4

_Well this looks like an awkward roast smothered in an awkward gravy with a side carrots and mashed potatoes._

_My response to how a BBQ with a friend's EX-Girlfriend and said friend will be._

Bard was bored, extremely so. To make things worse he was more or less confined to Sei's trailer because the team was running systems checks and moving the M-5's around a bit. Mr. Johnson decided that multi ton cybots and a blinded man was an accident waiting to happen. Bard agreed, but it still didn't help to alleviate the boredom or the feeling Bard had of his ass becoming one with the seat cushion. In the kitchenette Kyohie was frying something. , creating a temping sound and smell. The only down part was that Bardon couldn't tell what the meal to be, might be.

The seat in front of Bard shifted as someone sat down.

"Morning Sei. Or is it afternoon?" Bard said.

"Lucky guess." Sei answered

"Not really. There are only 4 women here, 1 is injured, Jo wouldn't wear heels if her life depended on it, and Ami isn't heavy enough the shift the table like that."

"Can you see yet?" she asked.

"Only light, bright and dark areas." Bard shrugged, there was no point in getting angry, it wouldn't heal his eyes faster. "Is lunch ready or is there a point to the visit?"

"Both. But Meg needs your help." Sei explained

"Ok."

"No questions?" Sei was puzzled.

"Even if I say no Mr. Johnson will order me to, so saying no is a waste of time. I know how this works."

"Well I'm going to ask anyway. Meg's body can't handle all the toxins the shrapnel put into her body very well."

"I know were this is going." Bard interrupted.

"They want to swap a pint of blood between you two to take the pressure of her kidneys. Get her through easier. You have enough body mass that the toxins won't put stress on your body."

"What kind of toxins?" Bard asked

"I can't pronounce it, something to do with the breakdown process the body uses on Brazumium."

"She has the Brazes"

"Excuse me?"

"She has Brazumoxide poisoning. Most shrapnel producing weapons these days use Brazumium because it has such a high resistance to pressure it shatters instead of tears like most metals, makes more shrapnel that way. The down side is the metal is like lead in the fact that your body can handle a little, too much will kill you." Bard said "my blood type is B negative; it's a rarer blood type. I've gotten this call 4 times. 5 if you count the time I was unconscious."

"Fine, we should go." Sei softly commanded

"Wait, there's a book in my bag. It's black with an image of the planet in the cover and a red ribbon book mark. Would you get it for me please?"

Meg walked across and empty space. There was no land no sky nothing but black in all directions, even down. Meg walked on an invisible solid plain that the source-less light did not illuminate never mind show the edge of. Oddly Meg felt safe here, nothing here could hurt her. In the distance a figure sat at a folding card table, in a folding metal chair, playing dominos.

"Hello." Bardon said from his chair.

"What are you doing?" Meg asked aggressively

"It looks like I'm playing dominos, but I could be plotting how the take Jo from you. You wouldn't know would you?"

"What?"

"I heard you hear me. Wait would that be hearded? It was in the third person so maybe heardeded?"

"Those aren't words." Meg told him.

"Ok, moving on." Bard placed down the next piece "your move."

"Huh?" Meg grunted.

"It's rather hard to play against yourself. Take a seat." A chair appeared opposite Bard. Meg backed away in surprise.

"Where in god's fucked up universe are we!"

"No where." Bard said calmly.

"We have to be somewhere."

"No, but welcome to the void none the less." Meg nodded

"So this place is called the void?" she asked

"No." Bard said stonily. Meg scratched her head in confusion.

"But you called here the void."

"Technically yes I did."

"So this place is the void."

"No."

"I'm lost."

"No, you're in Japan, haven't moved an inch."

"Where in Japan is this?" Bard sighed

"It's not."

"I'm confused. Where is this place?" Meg finally sat down in the chair, it was sturdy.

"This isn't a place. To be a place or a thing you must exist. To exist you need to have matter. Thoughts don't have that." Bardon lectured

"Thoughts?"

"Yes. Basically you're talking to a part of your internal-self, in your mind's eye, the void."

"But why the void?" Meg asked sort of catching on.

"Because that's what it is until you fill it with something. From here you can see your past," Bard snapped his fingers Meg saw herself as a small child, riding on her father's shoulders "your now," Meg saw herself sitting at the trailer table laughing with the girls. "Your could-have-beens" Meg saw Meg in high school taking a test "and your could-bes." Meg saw two images one of her and Jo sitting on the beach, alone and some years in the distance, and Meg a mother.

"How can you do this Bardon?" Meg asked

"I'm not Bardon; I am a figment or your imagination. The manifestation of a part of your mind and personality that you need to come to terms with."

"Then why am I talking to you and not me." Meg questioned.

"Because your mind has decided I am a better symbol of what you need to deal with, your own fears, desires, insecurities, and it's rather unhealthy to talk to yourself. That is how split personalities tend to start." The image of Bard placed another domino down. Despite the fact it was Meg's turn. Meg was quiet for a long period of time. Bard started to play by himself again.

"Fine I'll start." Bard growled, finally ending the silence. "You hesitate talking to Jo because you're afeard of being hurt, yet you are being hurt by not talking to her and watching her respond to my flesh and blood alter-ego."

"Not true." Meg argued

"I am the manifestation of your own mind, I know everything you know don't waste your time lying. You don't want to lose someone you love, understandable."

"I care I don't love her." Meg said

"Bullshit. What was that little conversation in the park with the real Bard? Lovely banter? I think not. The relieve you felt after was pretty real."

"Quiet."

"You're just a coward; you don't want to take the chance of being hurt again. Your mother abandoned you. Your father didn't love you enough to not die in the accident. You Grandmother didn't love you enough to make her heart last another 87 years."

"Shut up."

"Even those damn kids in the bus only cared enough so you'd feed them."

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up!" Meg screamed and bellowed. Tears soaked her face.

"Hurts don't it?" Bard asked "having all your fears thrown in your face. To finally stare them down. Now don't get me started on death.

"Why?"

"Because you need to remind yourself that only two things really matter, you get one shot a life. Live it as you want. Enjoy what you can."

"And the other?" Meg asked still teary eyed.

"The only thing a matters in any relation ship is how you feel. Weather you love them or care about them or whatever term fits at the moment." Bard or the Bard shaped illusion stared at Meg across the table.

"You got something to say?" Meg asked.

"No."

"But you're staring at me."

"No where else to look, besides once in a while you enjoy being the center of attention." Meg shook her head.

"This place makes no sense."

"If the human mind made more sense, the world would be half as dangerous, twice and logical, and twenty time colder." Bard said "I do have something to say now."

"What?"

"Wake up."

"Sei! Come take a look at this." Ami exclaimed. Her voice was projected out of an inter-comm system in the trailer.

"Patch it through here Ami." Sei told her. Sei moved to at the computer terminal in the command cabin, Mr. Johnson leaned in behind her, looking over her shoulder. What came up was a satellite picture of the Tokyo harbor centered on a container ship. "What are we looking at Ami?" Sei asked

"This is the cargo ship the MMV lusitania. I started poking around after Mr. Johnson said whoever moved the Chaos gun couldn't move all the supplies it needed with out attracting attention. The manifest says it is caring construction equipment, but the thermal imaging shows heavy metals, far denser than the steel I-beams it says it's carrying."

"Ammunition maybe." Mr. Johnson said. "Was there mercury on board?"

"I have nothing to say it wasn't." Ami replied. "But that's no the weird part. Another ship from with the MMV designation ran aground close to were Meg and JO got hurt. But waited 2 days to call for help."

"When was that?" Sei asked

"The 3rd." she answered. " 26 days ago."

"Damn, plenty of time to hide the Gun." Mr. Johnson said.

"Or it could just be a prideful captain." Sei commented.

"Maybe." Mr. Johnson said tapping Sei's shoulder as he thought. "I'm gonna have my boys start reconing that Ghost city of yours, see what we can dig up. Seems the best place to hide that creation."

"Very well." Sei said, "We have to start somewhere I guess."

Meg opened her eyes in a slow careful motion, protecting them from the harsh light. She started to move and stretch out the knots in her muscles when a hand held down her left arm.

"Don't move." Bard said. "I don't want the needle jerked around thank you." Meg finally saw the transfusion line connecting both their circulatory systems. A man from Bard's team pulled the needle out of their arms.

"That should be enough." He said.

"Thanks. Dean." Bard said.

"How long have you been here?" Meg asked.

"Beats the hell out of me. I still can't read a clock, or see red and green for that matter."

"Sense when?" Meg asked concerned in a vague way.

"I forgot you where sedated, you tripped a booby trap. It messed everybody up, blinded me." Bard explained. Meg sat up. Bard screwed his eyes shut, in pain.

"What?"

"When the blurry colored shadows move too fast it hurts my eyes." Bard explained. Bard paused as he wiped pain-tears off his face. "Jo came to see you."

"When?" Meg looked around expecting to see her.

"She left as I came in she hasn't been back yet. At least I think it was her, she didn't say a word so I assume so. Thought you'd like to know"

"Thank you." Meg with nothing else to do examine the medical part of the trailer she was in. there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as she could tell, so she examined her companion, in his lap was a book. It was tattered and well used. The title had long been faded out of the cover fabric by the author's name John Ringo was printed in a tougher ink and was still legible.

"What's with the book?" She asked.

"My mother gave it to me a long time ago. I've had it on me every time I end up in the hospital, it kind of a get well token. A superstition really."

"Most people have something like that to keep from getting hurt." Meg said.

"People have them to try to keep from dieing. I'm not that stupid. I'd rather die of old age or at least die standing up on my own two fucking feet. I guess this is my way of trying not to die in a hospital. You came a little too close for comfort." Bard was blunt, he hadn't been as concerned as Sei or Ami was but none-the-less another human being had been fairly close to death. Meg gently pried the book out of Bard's hand. As she looked/felt the book over an odd notion came to mind. Meg opened the book to where the book mark was and started to read out loud.

"You can start from the beginning if you want. I know how it's going to end." She did.

That's it for now. Please R+R


End file.
